The City Of Montreal Is Making Driving And Parking Tickets More Expensive

Careful where you park!

As if parking in Montreal wasn't complicated enough, Mayor Valerie Plante and the City of Montreal are about to make parking tickets a lot more expensive. Don't get me wrong, some of you deserve those tickets but for the most part, confusing traffic signs are the big problem.

Some parking fines will increase by nearly 25%. For the second year in a row, drivers will have to be extra careful when trying to park in the city. With over a million parking fines last year alone, the city expects the number of fines to grow exponentially.

TL;DR The City of Montreal is raising the price of parking tickets for the second year in a row. Drivers can expect a near 25% increase in some cases. The mayor's office expects drivers to follow the rules no matter what and hopes that drivers will pay more attention to parking laws in the future.

Regular parking fines will only technically increase by a dollar, from $49 to $50. But, there's always a catch. The Quebec government has installed "registry fees" that will increase from $13 to $28 dollars. Because of these "registry fees", the total cost of a parking ticket will be $78 instead of $62.

Drivers are quick to blame the confusing parking signs in Montreal for good reason. There are so many reserved lanes and no parking zones that confound even the most experienced drivers. No motion will be tabled to make the signs easier to read, however.

For people who insist on parking in reserved lanes, unaware or not, the fines will be increased even more. The base fine will increase to $229 while the "registry fee" will increase to $73. Therefore, fines for parking in reserved lanes will increase to a total of $302.

City officials netted $59 million in parking fines last year alone, which the Plante administration claims will go to improving infrastructure and accessibility. The latest increase in fines is estimated to increase total revenue by $11 million.

Of course, the city hopes that parking fine revenues don't increase so much because they just want people to follow the rules. Any potential revenues will go to developing the infrastructure of Montreal, adding to the earmarked $201 million for parking and road improvements.

The city plans to develop a new express bike network and fund their new Project Zero action plan with any revenues that come from parking fines. The Plante administration hopes that the increased fines will deter motorists from committing parking offences.

The increase will go into effect sometime in the summer, pending a vote from city hall on April 15th.

To recap, regular parking offences will be $78 whereas fines for parking in reserved lanes will be $302.

Here's hoping you drivers won't commit any more parking offences this summer!